May 19 - The Port of Gothenburg has seen ro-ro traffic increase during the first quarter of 2014 - 142,000 units were shipped via the gateway signifying a 7 percent year-on-year improvement over Q1 2013.
According to Magnus Kårestedt, ceo at the Port of Gothenburg, the ro-ro surge is the continuation of a pattern that has emerged during the past year across Europe: "The UK is increasing slowly, Belgium is showing a substantial increase and Germany and Denmark continue to be stable."
The handling of new cars at the gateway rose 17 percent year-on-year in Q1 2014 to 17,200 units, however, container volumes fell 7 percent to 216,000 teu while volumes in the energy sector slumped 20 percent.
"A weakened Swedish container market in general, combined with a couple of services that have disappeared, has resulted in a downturn in container volumes," said Kårestedt. "The storage market is under considerable pressure at the moment. Refining margins are also low. Throughflow at the refineries was significantly higher during the first quarter of 2013. Consequently, volumes during that period were higher in the light of the positive margins at the time."
